November 9, 2012

We just got back from site visits yesterday. I feel so bad for everyone on the East Coast. The families of my friends here seem to be doing fine, thank goodness, and I’m glad to hear that Sandy is doing well. Sorry again that my writing is not very formal and so bad (My excuse still remains that I’m a bio major! ;) ). Hope you guys are enjoying the information though :) I got my first and only letter in the mail last week, thank you Lauren! I absolutely loved reading it! 

I have so much to tell you about my trip! Peace Corps drove us to Maputo at around noon last Friday. We got our rooms in our hotel and then headed a couple buildings down to a restaurant where I ordered macaroni and cheese. I was so happy :) I love cheese. After that we walked to a gelato shop and a grocery store. We also ate some lychee. It wasn’t as sweet as the lychee in Taiwan but I’m excited I get to eat it here! 

Eating lychee.

The group of us (13 people) woke up early the next morning (Saturday) to catch our plane. We flew into Nampula, the capitol of the province Nampula. The landscape was breathtaking. Flat land with these huge rocks/mountains. I was told that there are only two other places like it in the world. It was pretty hot once we landed and Peace Corps picked us up and took us to the office in the city. A few volunteers met us in the office and walked us around the city. We ended up eating lunch at a fancy hotel near the office called Millennium. I ate some of the best Indian food I have ever eaten there. So good! After that, I left the group and met up with another second group who flew into Nampula at a later time. Their plane was late, though, so we weren’t able to catch a chapa (Public transportation. They are a type of mini bus) and make it to our site before dark. Because of that, the five of us (me, Lisa, Brendan, Victor, and Jennea) stayed in the city in a really nice hostel. We met some ex-volunteers there and I had the first hot shower I’ve had in weeks! It was so nice and relaxing! I had dinner again at the Millennium hotel with the second group. The food is so delicious! Then we went to bed. 

Next day (Sunday) we got an early start. A taxi picked us up from the airport and on our way to the airport we saw the most violent fight I have ever seen in my life. Two men were beating/kicking a woman in the street. It was really brutal and we were all a bit shaken up. We then made it to the paragiam and found a chapa to Alto Molokwe. We waited in that chapa for about three hours. The bus driver had lost his keys and we were waiting for it to fill up. We were bored so Jenea and I read her Portuguese copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix out loud for a while. Everyone kept telling us to read louder and corrected our pronunciation, pretty funny! Another bad thing happened though. Brendan got his iPod stolen from his jean pocket, I felt so bad for him! We were paranoid about taking out our electronics after that so I’m sorry I don’t have many pictures. Finally, we left at around 8am. There are so many giant termite mounds everywhere here and our chapa got stopped a few times. The policemen wanted to check our IDs and hopefully get a bribe out of us. We all had our passports though so it was all good. We finally made it to Alto Molokwe around noon and were met by two volunteers. We got free ice cream and walked up a steep hill to get to the volunteer’s house. After that, we left Victor and Jennea and traveled with Stephanie to her site. This site is very rural. She doesn’t have electricity and carries water to her house on her head! It was pretty late by the time we got to her place so we stayed the night there. We cooked tuna, tomatoes, and garlic together and ate it with rice. We sat on a mat outside and looked at the stars after we finished eating. It was breathtaking and so much fun. Brendan is a funny guy and I’m glad he didn’t let the stolen iPod get to him. He was a volunteer in Cape Verde so he’s had other electronics stolen as well. It’s pretty common here in Africa, unfortunately. 

The view from Stephanie's house.

Next morning (Monday) we woke up at 4 and had the most intense chapa ride I have ever experienced. Lisa and I got into the chapa and sat in the back for some crazy reason. We obviously had no idea what we were doing. The road was extremely bumpy (it is a dirt road and windy) and the driver was driving pretty fast. I sat on a bag of coal and my poor jeans are now ripping. So many people piled into the chapa too, I couldn’t believe we were able to fit more people inside it! People were hanging off the sides and I still have some colorful bruises. I was shaking so much from exhaustion and nerves when I got off the chapa that I needed help getting off, so embarrassing! But I’m honestly fine. Please don’t worry about me. It was quite an experience and the gorgeous scenery made the ride worth it. 

I am never taking comfortable seats/transportation for granted ever again. The only thing I can compare that ride to is the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland. Luckily, the volunteer (Annie) waiting for us was super nice. She had cinnamon rolls with icing and fresh coffee waiting for us! I was so happy to bathe and eat delicious American food. I ate so well while I was there and got a lot of questions/concerns answered, it was great! I also realized that this training period is definitely a transition to what our real service will be. I didn’t feel I was really in Africa until this trip (probably because I am always speaking English and surrounded by Americans. Plus it still feels like Peace Corps is holding our hand. I appreciate the help though! :) ). We saw the school Annie teaches at and the clinic she volunteers at as well. That afternoon we traveled 15 minutes away to a large city called Gurue. Boy was it hot there! It was absolutely stunning though. We passed by fields of tea (Tea Tani!! Omg!!! Haha I thought of you!) and when we were hiking up a hill we saw a lake and fancy houses the "Padres” live in. The only other time I remember being so impressed with scenery was when I was in Yosemite. It really looked like a painting. The mountains are so pretty!

 African sunset.

 The teacher housing at Annie's site.

 Lissa and I with trash in the background and no sunset lol

Food during site visit: We ate so well! The first day we made tuna melts on homemade bagels for lunch and for dinner we had mac and cheese with salad. The next day we didn’t do much but cook. It was so hot! We ate a local Zambezian dish (with Saracha/rooster sauce!) for lunch and at dinner we made bean patties to make into a burger with salad. So happy! I attached a picture of the local dish (muca pata) to the email. Lentils with coconut milk and onions I think. 

 Tuna melts.

 Muca Pata.

The last (Tuesday) night with Annie we were anxiously trying to get internet to learn what was going on back home about the election! For some reason we thought the polls closed at 4am our time and woke up early to find out who won! We were wrong, though, and had to wait a bit. The two memory card/cell phone providers the Peace Corps gave Annie and I don’t work in Invinha so we were huddled around Annie’s phone. CNN didn’t work on her phone so we were getting our updates through facebook lol and we finally found out about the elections while sitting on the side of a road in Mozambique waiting for a ride. Fun times! Lisa and I were a bit anxious about the trip back to Nampula. Our flight was around 8pm that day (Wednesday) but it took us 3 days to actually get to Annie’s site in the first place! After waiting 2 hours, we finally got on a chapa that took us back to Alto Molokwe. We were much smarter about how/where we sat on the chapa this time around and it was much more comfortable! Plus I think this driver was a lot more cautious/slower. When we got to Alto Molokwe, we found a large bus and got on it instead of a small chapa. It was the same price and we had a lot more room so we were happy! That night we flew back to Maputo with our big group of 13 and stayed the night in the same hotel. The next morning we got breakfast in the hotel and made our way to the Peace Corps office. After that, we walked to a craft market and ate lunch at a restaurant owned by previous volunteers. Chocolate milkshake plus a veggie Panini. Yum! It started raining by the time we got on a chapa back to Namaacha. It’s nice being back “home” but I am now pretty excited to get my own place. I am so glad I got to hang out with Lisa! She is such a great person and we both wish we could be roommates. We have a lot in common and similar personalities. 

We find out where our future sites will be this Wednesday! I wonder what I’ll get. I didn’t mind not having electricity until I saw Annie’s site. She already has so much stuff (including a refrigerator!) with beautiful scenery and cooler temperatures. There are a lot of pretty places around Mozambique, especially the beach sites, but it would be hot and humid there! I think I want to ask for a more rural site. I would feel safer there and it would be easier to integrate myself into the community. We’ll see where I end up but I honestly think I can be happy wherever they put me. I’ll keep you updated!

Today we found out our level of language proficiency. I am advanced medium! It was much better than I expected! Everyone who is advanced medium and below still have language classes every day, which I’m grateful for. I need all the help I can get before I’m on my own! Our language classes changed though. I still have class with Amanda but there are four other people now. Jade (who went to UC Davis!), Stephen (my neighbor), Will (who is a math teacher), and Ryan (who is also a math teacher. He’s an aerospace engineer so he knows where Edwards Air force Base is!). Wish me luck.